companies and organizations like the U.S. Department of Transportation and Lockheed Martin. Additional hotel rooms and restaurants are slated to open in the develop- ment this year and beyond. D.C.’s lodging and event venues are growing too. Te
Washington Marriott Marquis will open in 2014 with 1,175 rooms and more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space, all directly connected to the Walter E. Washington Conven- tion Center. In total, more than 5,322 new hotel rooms are set to join D.C.’s existing inventory of nearly 30,000 rooms in the coming years, including more than 1,300 rooms currently under construction. Existing D.C. hotel properties — includ- ing Fairmont, Hilton, Hyatt, Kimpton, Marriott, Renaissance, and Westin — are also in the process of sprucing up their guest rooms and meeting spaces with multimillion-dollar renovations. Next door to the 2.3-million-square-foot Walter E. Washington Convention Center, one of the largest conven- tion centers in the country, the recently reopened Carnegie Library at Mount Vernon Square provides an unexpected yet awe-inspiring setting for meetings and events. Te library, con- structed in the Beaux-Arts style in 1903, is comprised of seven ornately decorated rooms, a 150-seat theater, and a grand exterior plaza. New attractions, dining, and even transportation options
all offer something new for meeting attendees to experience, even if they’ve recently visited. Te Smithsonian Institution will add a 16th museum to its D.C. collection in 2015 — the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Other recent cultural additions include the Howard Teatre and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall, which opened in 2011, adjacent to the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Te Center for Education and Leadership at Ford’s Teatre opened in February 2012 with four floors of perma- nent and rotating exhibits that celebrate President Abraham Lincoln’s legacy and leadership. Transportation options are changing too — in Northeast D.C., the new DC Streetcar line will connect many of the city’s neighborhoods beginning in summer 2013 on a 2.5-mile stretch along H Street, and plan- ning is under way for additional segments across the city. Between the billions in new developments and the desti-
nation’s powerful mix of prestige and hospitality, it’s easy to see the abundant number of reasons why meeting planners should choose D.C. — especially in the short term.
A LOT’S COOKING IN D.C. “D.C. is an ideal destination for regional, national, and international meetings, and planners can count on attract- ing strong attendee numbers when they meet here,” said Ronnie Burt, Destination DC’s vice president of convention sales and services. “D.C.’s appeal relies on the fact that the city is a global market with plenty of amenities. Since we are
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Dining out According to Esquire magazine, Washington D.C., ranks among the top 10 best restaurant cities in the country. In downtown alone, there are 43 new restaurants to experience. From fresh and local seafood from the nearby Chesapeake Bay to “power dining” in Georgetown, there’s a restaurant to tempt every palate.